Candidate Handbook Version 01.02 28 th August 2017
Table of Contents INTRODUCTION... 3 OBLIGATIONS, RESPONSIBILITIES AND RIGHTS... 4 Your obligations... 4 Your rights... 5 Our responsibilities to you... 5 RESOURCES... 6 LEARNING SUPPORT... 6 ATDP TRAINERS AND ASSESSORS... 6 ASSESSMENT... 6 YOUR STATEMENT OF ATTAINMENT... 7 COLLECTION OF INFORMATION AND PRIVACY... 7 ACCESSING YOUR RECORDS... 8 COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS PROCEDURES... 8 PLAGIARISM... 9 FEES AND REFUNDS... 10
Introduction This handbook provides you with general information about your participation in the Advocacy Training and Development Program (ATDP) and Major Training Services (MTS) obligations to you, and your obligations to us and your fellow learners, as the appointed RTO to assist with the delivery of the face to face component of this course. It is important to note that MTS has entered into a contract with the Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) for the provision of our learning and assessment services. While we strive to make your learning and assessment experience with us as safe, enjoyable and rewarding as possible, any concerns you may have about your selection or nomination to participate in the ATDP programme should be addressed with the ATDP National Training Manager. Legislation and regulation We are obliged to conduct ourselves in accordance with a range of laws, regulations, policies and directions from the national VET regulator the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA). These are listed below. a. Fair Work Amendment (state referral) Act 2009 b. Occupational Health and Safety amendment 2007 c. Privacy Act 1988 and subsequent enhancements d. Privacy Amendment Act 2004 e. Racial Discrimination Act 1975 f. Sex Discrimination Act 1984 g. Work Health and Safety (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Act 2011 h. Work Health and Safety Act 2011 i. Age Discrimination Act 2004 j. Child protection legislation in Australia and New Zealand 2009 k. Copyright Act 1968 l. Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000 m. Disability Discrimination Act 1992 n. Disability Discrimination Amendment (Education Standards) Act 2005 o. Disability Discrimination and Other Human Rights Bill 2009 p. Disability Discrimination Regulations 1996 q. Equal Employment Opportunity (Commonwealth Authorities) Act 1987 r. Fair Work (Registered Organisations) ACT 2009 s. Fair Work Act 2009 ATDP - MTS Candidate Handbook V01-02 2017.docx Page No. 3
t. National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 u. Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015 v. Australian Qualifications Framework Second Edition 2013 w. Application of the Australian Qualifications Framework Qualifications Issuance within the VET Sector National Skills Standards Council Policy Statement Version One dated March 2013 x. Nationally Recognised Training (NRT) Logo Specifications ASQA June 2011 y. Australian Skills Quality Authority General directions as maintained at http://www.asqa.gov.au/about-asqa/general-directions.html Obligations, responsibilities and rights Your obligations As a participant in the ATDP program and a candidate for assessment you are required to: Attend all sessions and record your attendance by signing the program attendance sheet that will be available on each day of your program (by doing so you are agreeing to abide by the obligations, responsibilities and rights described in this handbook). Participate actively in all program activities. Treat all other participants and the Trainer / Assessor with respect and without discrimination, regardless of religious, cultural, racial and gender differences, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability or socio-economic status. Abide by ATDP s policy and directions relating to your responsibilities and standards of behaviour. Read all relevant course and training information. If required, meet with your Trainer / Assessor and / or the ATDP course coordinator to review your progress. Prepare yourself for assessment at the scheduled times. Submit all assessment tasks. Ensure all assessment products are your own work. Raise any concerns you may have regarding the delivery of the training program, session activities and your ability to learn with your Trainer / Assessor and / or the ATDP course coordinator. Notify the Trainer / Assessor of any Workplace Health and Safety issues you may identify throughout the program. Follow the directions of the Trainer / Assessor or the training venue coordinator in the case of an emergency. ATDP - MTS Candidate Handbook V01-02 2017.docx Page No. 4
Advise your ATDP course coordinator, if you have any special needs or require any special adaptive equipment or support for the training course prior to the course commencement. Participate in the course evaluation process. Your rights To be treated with respect by others, to be treated fairly and without discrimination, regardless of religious, cultural, racial and gender differences, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability or socio-economic status.. To be free from all forms of intimidation and bullying. To work in a safe, clean, orderly and cooperative environment. To have any disputes in which you are involved, settled in a fair and rational manner. To work and learn in a supportive environment without interference from others. To express and share ideas and to ask questions. To be treated with politeness and courtesy at all times. Our responsibilities to you MTS will: Not limit access to training or act in any way as to discriminate on the basis of religious, cultural, racial and gender differences, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability or socioeconomic status or any other criterion which is not intrinsic to good business management and professional training practice. Work with DVA to make sure that you have a safe and healthy learning environment. Provide you with a description of the unit/s of competency associated with your program. Treat you with respect. Provide opportunities to practice the skills and apply the knowledge acquired throughout the program. Deliver training and record the outcomes of your assessment. Provide you with access to your learning and assessment record on request. Provide training materials and recommend other resources for further learning opportunities. Provide you with support in preparing you for assessment and advise you where, when and how assessment will occur. Assess your skills and knowledge through observation and questioning using assessment tools developed for the purpose. Give feedback to you and develop a suitable remedial pathway, if gaps are identified. Provide results and regularly review the assessment process after assessment. Remind you of the appeals process and options for further assessments if you are unhappy with the results. ATDP - MTS Candidate Handbook V01-02 2017.docx Page No. 5
Resources You will be provided with hard copies of the course material for the relevant level of training you are attending. Participants are also welcome to bring along their own laptops on training days so that you can access online resources relevant to your learning and so that assessment tasks can be provided electronically for ease of completion. Learning Support MTS will give you every opportunity to achieve your training objectives. Where a participant does not (or is unable) to complete any aspect of the course requirements, MTS will consult with the individual to determine provisions for completion (i.e., re-attendance, reassessment or other options customised to suit the individual and within our ability to do so). ATDP Trainers and Assessors Volunteer ATDP personnel conduct much of the training associated with your course. They also provide the team of assessors who use common tools to assess competency. All ATDP trainers and assessors hold the necessary qualifications mandated by the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015 and are committed to continuous learning and development and are subject to regular performance reviews. Assessment It is your responsibility to submit your quiz assessment on time using the agreed format and method. The format and method will be described to you in detail at the commencement of and throughout the program. You must submit your quiz assessment within the time frame described to you. Applications for an extension for submission of the quiz assessment will be considered on a case by case basis. We aim to advise you of the outcome of assessment within 20 working days from the date the quiz assessment has been marked. This turnaround time will not apply from 20 December to 26 January. You will be assessed as either Competent or Not Yet Competent. If you are assessed as Competent you will be issued a Statement of Attainment. ATDP - MTS Candidate Handbook V01-02 2017.docx Page No. 6
If you are initially assessed as Not Yet Competent (NYC), you will be offered the opportunity to address the deficiencies in your evidence. If you are unable to provide the evidence required to support an assessment of Competent you will be advised accordingly. If gaps are identified in your skills and knowledge, MTS/ATDP will provide you and your mentor with a plan to address your development needs. The process for appealing assessment decisions is described later in this Handbook. We are required by the National VET Regulator to retain your assessments for a period of 6 months. We will return a marked copy of your assessment with your Statement of Attainment once you have been deemed competent. Your Statement of Attainment MTS will aim to ensure that your Statements of Attainment is issued within 20 working days of you being deemed competent and all other aspects of the contractual arrangement between us and DVA are satisfied. Your Statement/s of Attainment will: Be signed by the Managing Director of MTS. Include the name, logo and national provider number of MTS, the ATDP Logo, the Nationally Recognised Training logo, course code, a certificate number, and date of you being marked competent. Identify you by name. List the units of competency achieved. Collection of information and privacy For reporting provision So as to provide you with a quality service, including the accuracy of personal details contained in the Statement of Attainment issued to you and to facilitate requests you may make regarding your training and assessment record, you have provided us with certain information through The ATDP registration form which is used as our Australian Vocational Education and Training Management Information Statistical Standard (AVETMISS) compliant enrolment form. The AVETMISS data you provided on the enrolment form is reported to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) as part of our RTO Registration requirements. As the custodian of the national VET administrative collections and surveys, NCVER collects and stores AVETMISS data in data centres within Australia using industry standard security technology. NCVER s privacy policy can be viewed at https://www.ncver.eu.au/privacy.html ATDP - MTS Candidate Handbook V01-02 2017.docx Page No. 7
In addition to the above, MTS respects and protects the privacy of information provided to us by candidates. Excluding NCVER and DVA, we do not release a candidate s personal information to any other third party without the consent of the candidate and will: 1) Only collect that information that is necessary. 2) Give you access to the personal information we hold about you when requested. 3) Keep your personal information accurate and up to date. 4) Limit access to your personal information to those members of ATDP and the MTS team that need it to perform their work. For service purposes As a RTO, we are required to provide information about the services we have provided to the National VET Regulator including the number of Qualifications and Statements of Attainment we have issued and information regarding the quality of your experience. You will be invited to complete a Learner Engagement Survey at the completion of your training and assessment. This information is consolidated and provided to the Regulator. We confirm that information provided to the Regulator will not contain any personal information. In addition to the above, you may also be contacted by NCVER to complete an on-line survey about the training you completed for this program. Accessing your records If in the future you wish to access and / or correct any information held by MTS, please email admin@majortraining.com.au. You will be asked to verify your identity and to provide certain information that will assist us in locating your records. Complaints and appeals procedures MTS is committed to providing you with a quality training experience and assessment service. The processes for resolving complaints and appeals have been included in our contractual arrangements with DVA and we have worked with them to create a plan that meets the Department s needs. Should you wish to make a complaint about our service delivery or appeal against an assessment decision, discuss this with your Trainer / Assessor first. We would aim to resolve any issues you may have immediately. If your complaint or appeal is not resolved by the Trainer Assessor through this informal process then raise your concerns with the ATDP National Training Manager who will raise the matter with us. We ATDP - MTS Candidate Handbook V01-02 2017.docx Page No. 8
suggest that you record the nature of your complaint or appeal in writing with as much detail as possible and that you raise your complaint or appeal within one month of the incident. On receipt of a complaint or appeal from ATDP, we will acknowledge this in writing, review the circumstances around your complaint and work with you and ATDP to achieve a satisfactory outcome. Procedure Where a valid complaint is in relation to: The content of a course: An assessment decision: Inappropriate behaviour of an MTS or ATDP staff member: MTS will: Review content in conjunction with Trainer / Assessor and client. Have the assessment reviewed by another assessor. Investigate the matter and take appropriate action with staff member and inform you of the outcome. MTS will provide you and ATDP (where applicable) with a written statement of the appeal outcomes including reasons for the decision. If we anticipate that the review process will take more than 60 days, we will acknowledge this in writing to you and / or DVA with an explanation of why this is the case. If you wish, you may, after providing us with the opportunity to resolve your complaint, raise it directly with the National VET Regulator ASQA. Information about how to do this is available at the ASQA website www.asqa.gov.au. ASQA will provide you with advice on what further action you can take. Plagiarism What is plagiarism? Plagiarism is the presentation by a participant of an assignment or assessment task that has been copied in whole or in part from another participant s work, or from any other source (e.g. published books or periodicals or internet sites) without proper acknowledgment. All assignments or assessment tasks must be your own work. Plagiarism is not acceptable and all suspected cases will be investigated. There are numerous web based resources for learning how to reference your work correctly. Consequences of plagiarism Once a case of plagiarism has been proved, MTS may elect to take one or more of the following actions: 1) Raise the matter with ATDP. 2) Record the matter on appropriate records. 3) Mark the submitted assignment / assessment task with a zero grade and allow a resubmission. ATDP - MTS Candidate Handbook V01-02 2017.docx Page No. 9
4) Mark the submitted assignment / assessment task with a zero grade and NOT allow a resubmission; and / or suspend the person from the program for a defined period of time up to and including permanent suspension. Fees and refunds The fees associated with your participation in the ATDP program are funded through DVA. We can, on request, re-issue a replacement SOA - cost on application. ATDP - MTS Candidate Handbook V01-02 2017.docx Page No. 10
ABN 57 064 001 270 Web: Email: www.majortraining.com.au General Enquiries: admin@majortraining.com.au Head Office: Unit 8, 157 Queenscliff Road, Queenscliff NSW 2096 PO Box 626 Freshwater NSW 2096 Phone: (02) 9907 2375 Brisbane Office: Level 8, 288 Edward Street, Brisbane QLD 4000 Phone: (07) 3229 7411